Laptops:Lenovo Thinkpad T60

From Linux 101, The beginner's guide to all things Linux.

1 Introduction
2 Installation
3 Hardware Setup

[edit] Introduction

The purpose of this topic is to outline the dual boot installation of Linux on an IBM Thinkpad T60. This is not meant to be a complete guide, just notes on some things.

[edit] Installation

For general information, see Fedora:Installation, Debian:Installation, Slackware:Installation, Gentoo:Installation.

[edit] Hardware Setup

[edit] Wireless

The T60's Centrino chipset inludes an Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG wireless card which implements the 802.11b and 802.11g standards. This card works out-of-the-box with Ubuntu 6.10. To learn more about the card and how to use it, see Laptops:IPW3945. Otherwise, consult your distribution's documentation to see find out how to graphically set up network interfaces, or see the Networking page for information on how to set it up by hand. Also check out the Wireless page for more information on that.

[edit] Graphics Card

The T60 has an ATI ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 or X1500 with 64MB or 128MB of dedicated video RAM. These cards are supported by the DRI project. The Direct Rendering Infrastructure is part of X11 and drivers for DRI are included in the kernel. Many distributions probably ship with this compiled into your kernel already as a module named radeon. If this is the case, you probably told it which card you used when you installed your distribution, and it set up X11 to load the proper one when it starts. If this is the case, you should have no trouble using hardware acceleration with 3D applications.

If you're not sure if you have the driver run /sbin/lsmod and look for a module named radeon. If you don't see one there, try:

# modprobe radeon

If it works without error messages, it is already compiled and you don't have to worry about recompiling your kernel; however you will need to set up X11 to use your card. If, on the other hand, modprobe gives you an error saying it cant find the module, you may be able to install the module as a package (using some method provided by your distribution), or you can look into configuring and installing your own kernel.

You can find an easy-to-use tutorial for Ubuntu at the Unofficial ATI Wiki. Make sure to replace the "vesa" driver in the Device section of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf with "fglrx".

[edit] Power Management

See Power Management to see how to suspend and hibernate your laptop and reduce CPU usage.

The hotkey combination Fn+F4 will also suspend to memory. You may have to hold the keys down for 1-2 seconds. Holding down the power button for 1-2 seconds will bring the system back.

The hotkey combination Fn+F3 will bring up the power display letting the user know what type of power source is being used, and how long that power source is estimated to last.